A Likely Story

• Director: H.C. Potter
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Crime
• Main Cast: Barbara Hale, Bill Williams, Lanny Rees, Sam Levene, Dan Tobin
• Release Year: 1947
• Country: US
• Run Time: 89 minutes

Plot

Soon to be married in real life, Barbara Hale and Bill Williams also played sweethearts on screen in the frantic farce A Likely Story. After a routine medical examination, ex-GI Bill Baker (Bill Williams) overhears a conversation between two doctors, leading him to the mistaken conclusion that he's doomed to die from a rare heart condition. Chancing to meet aspiring artist Vickie North (Barbara Hale), Baker resolves to help Vickie realize her dream by bankrolling her career. He takes out a huge life insurance policy, then talks a couple of gangsters (Sam Levene and Nestor Paiva) into bumping him off so that Vickie and her kid brother Jamie (Lanny Rees) can collect immediately. Things get complicated when Baker discovers that he's as hale and hearty as the next fellow, prompting him to try to weasel out of his bargain with the gangsters-who, having financed the insurance policy in the first place, aren't inclined to let our hero off the hook so easily. Curiously, what should have been a frothy comedy plays more like a film noir, complete with a brief, hallucinatory nightmare sequence! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Barbara Hale - Vickie North
• Bill Williams - Bill Baker
• Lanny Rees - Jamie
• Sam Levene - Louie
• Dan Tobin - Phil Bright

Nestor Paiva - Tiny; Max Willenz - Mr. Slepoff; Henry Kulky - Tremendo; Robin Raymond - Ticket Girl; Jessie Arnold - Landlady; Chester Clute - Dr. Brown; Hal K. Dawson - Dr. Fraser; Dick Elliott - Conductor; Sam Flint; Jack Gargan - Taxi Driver; William Gould - Doorman; Joe Green - Senator; Ethelreda Leopold - Artist; Sam Lufkin; George Magrill - Express Man; Al Murphy; Clarence Muse - Porter; Paul Newlan - Truck Driver; Patsy O'Byrne - Flower Woman; Eddie Parks - Drunk; Charles Pawley; Lee Phelps - Cop at Intersection; Jason Robards, Sr. - Cop; Jack Rice - Secretary to Senator; Dick Rush - Detective; Nancy Saunders - Blonde on Train; Bill Self; Al Seymour - Criminal; Bill Shannon - Major; Charles Sullivan; Mary Treen; Emmett Vogan - Doctor; Philip Warren - Intern; Isabel Withers; Mary Young - Little Old Lady; Tommy Noonan; Hal Craig - Photographer; Kid Chissell - Gym Attendant; Michael Lally; Cy Malis - Poker Player; Pat McKee - Smoky; Joe Palma; Phil Friedman; Dorothy Curtis - Nurse; Carl Hanson; Drew Miller; Larry Randall - Reporter; Bill Wallace - Limousine Driver

Credit

Albert S. D'Agostino - Art Director, Field M. Gray - Art Director, H.C. Potter - Director, Harry Marker - Editor, Leigh Harline - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Roy Hunt - Cinematographer, Richard H. Berger - Producer, James Altwies - Set Designer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, Russell A. Cully - Special Effects, Bess Taffel - Screenwriter, Alexander G. Kenedi - Short Story Author